Blame Hawaii’s thriving tourism market for Honolulu traffic

It’s no secret that traffic on Oahu is a nightmare and it’s also no secret that Hawaii is enjoying some good financial times with its bread-and-butter business, tourism, thriving.

But could the good times be to blame for that gridlock?

According to Inrix, a company that provides traffic information, traffic congestion and the economy turning around could be directly related.

The Kirkland, Wash.-based company created what it calls the Inrix Gridlock Index for the top 10 metro areas in the country that measures the intensity of gridlock. For example, in October, the IGI score for the top 10 metro areas was 17.6, meaning the average driving trip took almost 18 percent longer because of traffic.

Honolulu wasn’t measured by the index, but Inrix ranked Honolulu as having the worst traffic in the country earlier this year. According to that study, Oahu commuters were stuck in traffic, on average, for a total of 58 hours last year. That was worse than Los Angeles.

The index found the higher the unemployment rate in a city, the less traffic. In October, unemployment on Oahu was a paltry — when compared to other major metro areas — 5.6 percent. That makes sense, if more people are working, more people are obviously driving to work.

It would be interesting to see what Honolulu’s index is. I imagine that could give the pro-rail people and the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, as well as the $5.16 billion project’s opponents, ammunition for their arguments for and against the project.

Some of those arguments will be heard again in federal court in Honolulu Wednesday during a status hearing to decide how to proceed in the case. The judge ruled in August for the plaintiffs’ side on three of their 23 complaints.